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I would love to have a roomba. However, there is always some toys from the kids or Lego laying around. Is any of the robots smart enough to stay clear of the to

by spockz 7y ago

I would love to have a roomba. However, there is always some toys from the kids or Lego laying around. Is any of the robots smart enough to stay clear of the toys or maybe even gather them in a central place?

ragebol 7y ago
> stay clear of the toys There is a bumper, if pressed hard enough it moves another direction. If its big enough it might show up on the laser scanner. > or maybe even gather them in a central place? No. The appropriate XKCD for that is maybe https://xkcd.com/1425/ https://xkcd.com/1425/
- ProZsolt 7y ago
  This XKCD reminds me of how far we got. Identifying objects on a picture quite easy nowadays. This conversation would be something like: I need 100000 pictures with birds and 100000 without birds.
  - ragebol 7y ago
    There is a project (which I can't find now) to identify birds just on their birdsong, IIRC. My quick DDG search came back with https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isoperla.birdsongid https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isoperla.b... but I haven't tried it.
cactus2093 7y ago
I haven’t tried the highest end models but my mid tier roomba certainly doesn’t. That’s the biggest issue with it, you need to be a very tidy person already for it to work for you. Leave a purse or backpack on the floor in the corner? Shoes by the door? Much less some toys. The roomba is gonna get stuck on a strap or shoelace or something. You can block off dedicated areas with their virtual walls, but need to make sure you never leave anything on the ground outside of those areas. There’s also a bug where any high contrast rug, like any light rug with a stripe or pattern, confuses the stair sensors so roomba thinks it’s “stuck on a cliff”. There’s no way to turn this off even if you promise the roomba that you live in a one-story apartment. So on days that I want to run the roomba, not only do I need to tidy up first but need to fold up the rug and make sure it’s off the floor. Maybe in my household we’re just messier than average, but the roomba is certainly not a set it and forget it kind of device. I also have a cordless vacuum and I’ve gone back to just manually vacuuming once a week, the roomba might still save a bit of time over all but the mental overhead of babysitting it is ultimately not really worth it for me.
koheripbal 7y ago
I have young kids also. I use the virtual walls to have it run in the kitchen only (thrice weekly) - by far the place with the most crumbs. On occasion, I'll manually run it in other rooms after picking up the toys/clothes/unicorns/mermaids/fairies/and rainbows.

by spockz 7y ago

ragebol 7y ago

> stay clear of the toys There is a bumper, if pressed hard enough it moves another direction. If its big enough it might show up on the laser scanner. > or maybe even gather them in a central place? No. The appropriate XKCD for that is maybe https://xkcd.com/1425/ https://xkcd.com/1425/

ProZsolt 7y ago
This XKCD reminds me of how far we got. Identifying objects on a picture quite easy nowadays. This conversation would be something like: I need 100000 pictures with birds and 100000 without birds.
- ragebol 7y ago
  There is a project (which I can't find now) to identify birds just on their birdsong, IIRC. My quick DDG search came back with https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isoperla.birdsongid https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isoperla.b... but I haven't tried it.

cactus2093 7y ago

I haven’t tried the highest end models but my mid tier roomba certainly doesn’t. That’s the biggest issue with it, you need to be a very tidy person already for it to work for you. Leave a purse or backpack on the floor in the corner? Shoes by the door? Much less some toys. The roomba is gonna get stuck on a strap or shoelace or something. You can block off dedicated areas with their virtual walls, but need to make sure you never leave anything on the ground outside of those areas. There’s also a bug where any high contrast rug, like any light rug with a stripe or pattern, confuses the stair sensors so roomba thinks it’s “stuck on a cliff”. There’s no way to turn this off even if you promise the roomba that you live in a one-story apartment. So on days that I want to run the roomba, not only do I need to tidy up first but need to fold up the rug and make sure it’s off the floor. Maybe in my household we’re just messier than average, but the roomba is certainly not a set it and forget it kind of device. I also have a cordless vacuum and I’ve gone back to just manually vacuuming once a week, the roomba might still save a bit of time over all but the mental overhead of babysitting it is ultimately not really worth it for me.

koheripbal 7y ago

I have young kids also. I use the virtual walls to have it run in the kitchen only (thrice weekly) - by far the place with the most crumbs. On occasion, I'll manually run it in other rooms after picking up the toys/clothes/unicorns/mermaids/fairies/and rainbows.